Lucas Miller made his first lake trout caught while ice fishing memorable.
The Ingleside man was using a darter jig with a Kalin’s Jerk Minnow when he caught the 33-inch laker from Geneva Lake.
“[I was fishing] 80 feet deep and [it] made some incredible runs from the hole to the bottom,” he messaged.
His first laker deserves another view, which is to the bottom left.
His message reminded me that ice fishing for lakers, somewhere, most likely in Wisconsin at either Geneva Lake or Big Green Lake, is on my to-do list.

Lucas Miller with his first lake trout caught while ice fishing.
Provided
FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories (the stories matter, as this one shows) around Chicago fishing, runs Wednesdays in the paper Sun-Times. The online posting here at chicago.suntimes.com/outdoors goes up at varied days of the week, depending on what is going on the wide world of the outdoors.
To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).